Armed neighbor stops crooks from stealing 83-year-old man's Christmas gifts

At least two intruders entered 83-year-old Harry Wells’ Houston home on Monday night ready to fill up a car with his Christmas gifts, including a flat screen TV, rifle and mounted deer head, investigators said.

The suspects nearly wound up filled with lead.

One of Wells’ neighbors surprised the crooks and fired five shots – enough to scare them off without anything to show for their Grinch-like behavior, KHOU reported.

“We are always watching out and they should stay away from here,” neighbor Elizabeth Smith said.

The armed neighbor, who was not identified in any media reports, told KHOU if the thieves ever came back to the neighborhood they wouldn’t leave with their lives, never mind anyone’s valuables.

The burglars nearly left on Monday in Wells’ car. That’s where they were stuffing their bounty when they were confronted by the neighborhood Good Samaritan. In their haste to flee, the thieves hit another neighbors’ car.

Wells said he slept through the entire encounter.

“I didn’t know anything was going on,” he told KHOU. “My hearing is so bad, until a deputy sheriff was in my bedroom.”